1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to sports products and more particularly to a hitting device used by sports players for hitting balls and other objects.
2. Description of Prior Art
In many sports, one of the most difficult skills to master is hitting. First, a hitter must be able to coordinate the swing of a bat, club, racquet, or stick while making contact with an object such as a ball, puck, or other sports projectile. Once this skill is mastered, the hitter must next learn to make good contact with the ball at various locations. In some cases the hitter must also learn to hit the object as it travels at velocities over 100 mph.
To develop good hitting skills, a player, trainer, or coach may use a variety of hitting devices. In the sports of baseball and softball, a batting tee is sometimes used.
Typical batting tees support a ball at a selected height above a representation of a home plate. The player hits the ball and the ball is then retrieved and placed on the tee for another swing. In this manner, the player can practice swinging and improve the coordination of his hands and eyes and develop his wrist and arm muscles.
Sometimes to develop a precisely focused hitter's eye, a baseball or softball hitter will train by hitting balls the size of a golf ball. These mini-balls can be made of light weight materials such as hollow plastic or foam. This makes practicing with smaller balls safe and convenient.
Traditional batting tees are typically designed to support balls the size of a baseball or softball. These batting tees are not designed to support balls the size of a golf ball.
For example, if a ball, the size of a golf ball is placed on a traditional batting tee pedestal, the golf ball sized ball will sit too far down in the pedestal and the hitter will not be able to hit the ball without hitting the stem. This will cause the hitter's bat to hit the pedestal instead of the ball and this will shock the hitter's bat and ruin the hitter's swing. This in turn will hinder the development of good hitting skills.
Because of these problems, some batting tees have been developed with smaller ball pedestals. The problem with these smaller ball batting tees is the smaller pedestal is not large enough to support larger balls. So, when a larger ball is placed on the smaller ball batting tee, the ball falls off the small pedestal especially if the wind is blowing.
Another problem, with both types of batting tees, is the ball remains in a static state. So, the user is unable to learn to hit a moving pitch. This is because the ball sits statically on top of the batting tee ball pedestal.
Another problem, with traditional batting tees, is a traditional batting tee tips over when hit by a bat. This is because the base is light-weight and is not heavy enough to withstand the force of the bat as it hits the ball and pedestal. This is extremely frustrating since the user has to bend over and pick-up the batting tee after the ball is hit.
Another problem, with traditional batting tees, is if the batting tee base is weighted, it will not tip or flex so the ball pedestal of the batting tee will take the impact of the swinging bat. This will cause the ball pedestal to break.
Another problem, with traditional batting tees, is if the batting tee doesn't flex away from the hitter's bat, the hitter will feel the shock of hitting the batting tee. This in turn will ruin the hitter's swing.